Friday, May 28, 2010

No Holds Barred: King Mo Lawal on Rashad, Rampage, and Race

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again speaks with the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, "King" Mo Lawal.

While we touch on the plans for his first title defense, our main topic is the controversy involving Mo's friend and training partner, Rashad Evans, and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, who meet in a UFC light heavyweight fight May 29 in Las Vegas. The Evans-Jackson fight has been built up by a torrent of trash talk focusing on the use racial stereotypes. Both Evans and Jackson are African-Americans.

We examine the words and deeds of both men, and discuss what they said and what they actually believe. We discuss the history and relationship Mo has with Rashad Evans. We present our views on the issues of image, violence, rivalries, and marketing of mixed martial arts. We deconstruct the notion that professional fights really exist to settle personal feuds. And we begin to examine the effect of all this on society.

This is one of the most explosive controversies in mixed martial arts, and we hope that this discussion serves as a starting point for a much broader and rational dialogue and examination of these issues.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

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